Football reactor training sled



Ma 26; 1970 H. P. PILLARD FOOTBALL REACTOR TRAINING SLED 2 Sheets-Sheet1 Filed Dec. 25, 1966 INVENTOR HENRY I. PILLARD ATTORNEY 1970 H. P.PILLARD 3,514,105

FOOTBALL REACTOR TRAINING SLED Filed Dec. 23, 1966 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 FIG.2

l NVENTOR HENRY P. PILLARD ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,514,105FOOTBALL REACTOR TRAINING SLED Henry P. Pillard, Blue Island, Ill.(Diamond K Lane, Joliet, Ill. 60433) Filed Dec. 23, 1966, Ser. No.604,385 Int. Cl. A631) 67/00 US. Cl. 273-55 6 Claims ABSTRACT OF THEDISCLOSURE Disclosed herein is a football reactor training sledincluding generally, a sled base frame, a movable fra-me mounted on thebase frame, and a reactor dummy mounted on the movable frame by aresilient assembly having a pair of horizontal tracks to which thereactor dummy is attached for freely sliding horizontal movement at alltimes.

This invention relates to an improved football reactor training sledwhich can be operated to simulate the movements and reactions of adefensive football player.

For a football player to apply an offensive standing block he must learnto: move on his feet in a semi-upright stance; move from side to side inthis stance to properly initially engage a defensive player who may beside stepping to avoid contact; maintain rapid repeated contact with thedefensive player regardless of his immovable character, side stepping,back stepping or similar evasive action; and to maintain a drivingforward and upward force on the defensive player regardless of thisplayers sideward or backward movements to reduce his stability withrespect to the ground, and to force him away from a predeterminedposition.

Although football reaction equipment devices have been provided in thepast, these devices invariably necessarily lack some of the fundamentalelements required to simulate the physical reaction ordinarily providedby a defensive player when being blocked, as set forth above, which arerequirements for training an offensive blocking player.

Therefore, the general objects of this invention are to provide animproved football reaction training sled which can selectively simulatea defensive player by moving laterally in either direction rapidly toavoid contact; to continuously and resistively react to a block, byremaining generally immovable, by resistively moving laterally, bygiving generally backward, or by a combination or series of similarresistive movements; and to provide a downward and forward force againstthe offensive blocker.

With these and other objects in view, the present invention generallycontemplates an improved football reactor training sled having a sledframe which may be selectively fixed or movable with two horizontaltracks upon which a movable frame is mounted; a reactor dummyresiliently and yieldably mounted thereon and movable in a linegenerally acute to the horizontal.

Other objects, advantages and novel aspects of this invention willbecome apparent upon consideration of the following detailed descriptionin conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a side elevation view of the improved foot ball reactortraining sled showing the interrelationship of the primary elementsthereof;

FIG. 2 is a partial front elevation view of the improved sled showingthe relationship between the sled frame and the movable frame; and

FIG. 3 is a partial side view of an exemplary yieldable reaction meansbetween the movable and sled frames.

The improved football reactor training sled of this invention, asexemplified by the structures shown in FIGS.

3,5 14,105 Patented May 26, 1970 1-3, includes generally a sled frame11, one or more movable frames 12, a reactor dummy 13 for each movableframe, and a resiliently yieldable assembly 14 interconnecting themovable frame with the dummy.

The sled frame 11 (FIG. 1) is provided with three base runners 15adapted to support the sled frame 11 on the ground or other similarsurface 16. Three upright braces 17 are respectively pivotally fastenedto the runners by a pin 18 between runner extensions 19. Three diagonalbraces 20 are respectively pivotally connected at one end to theuprights 17 by a pin 21 between upright extensions 22. The other end ofthe braces 20 are respectively selectively retained in one of severalholes 23 in the runners 15 by pins, bolts or similar devices 24.

Angle rods 25 may be provided through the runners 15 adjacent the endsthereof and into the ground to keep the sled frame 11 from moving alongthe ground 16. A platform 26 is provided on the sled frame 11 betweenthe runners 15. A wheel lever 27 is pivotally connected to one or all ofthe runners 15 at 28, and each lever is provided with a wheel or roller29 rotatably secured thereto at 30. Tube tracks and 36 are securedhorizontally to the uprights 17 by bolts 37. It should be noted thattracks 35 and 36 are spaced apart a substantial distance.

The movable frames 12 (FIGS. 1 and 2) are each provided with supporttrack tubes 40 and 41 which are complementally and telescopically aswell as freely and slidably on ball bearings at the ends thereof and onthe sled frame tracks 35 and 36 respectively. The support tubes 40 and41 are interconnected by telescoping tubes 42 and 43. Four bars 44 areused to rigidly support a stop plate 45 at a substantial horizontaldistance such as three feet from the support tubes 40' and 41 and thetracks 35 and 36. A tube 46 (FIGS. 1 and 3) is secured to the stop plate45 around an opening 47 therein.

The illustrated reactor dummy 13 (FIGS. 13) includes generally a backingplate 50, a shaft 51, a contoured dummy body 52, a spring plate 53 andsprings 54. The shaft 51 is secured at one end to the plate 50, and thecontoured dummy is secured over the outer surface of the plate 50. Theshaft 51 is telescopically slidably mounted in the tube 46 of themovable frame 12. The spring plate 53 is secured to the other end of theshaft 51, and is adapted to engage an end surface 55 of the tube 46. Thesprings 54 are secured for yielding tension bias between the stop plate45 of the movable frame 12, and the spring plate 53 of the reactor dummy13 by the anchor bolts 56 and 57 respectively. The reactor dummy 13 isthereby normally urged to the right or urged forward (FIGS. 1 and 2) toengage the spring plate 53 with the surface 55 of tube 46. The shaft 51can be provided with calibrations to indicate the general magnitude ofany deflection of the dummy 13 against the springs 54.

OPERATION The general operation of the improved football reactortraining sled of this invention is to place an operator on the platform26 for each of the movable frames 12, to respectively manipulate themovable frame 12 and wheel levers 27 which may likewise be provided foreach operator.

The operator can selectively move his respective movable frame 12laterally along the tracks 36 of the frame 11, as the player approachesthe dummy reactor 13, from a position to the right or front of thereactor 13 (FIGS. 1 and 2). If the offensive player is appropriatelyagile, the operator will not be able to manipulate the reactor 13 toavoid contact from the player, and accordingly, the player will move thereactor 13 towards the movable frames 12 against the action of thesprings 54. The extent of this movement will be readily shown by theshaft 51 of the reactor 13 which is calibrated with respect to the stopplate 46 of the movable frame 12 to provide a visual indication of themagnitude of the impact provided by the player against the reactor dummy13.

The angle rods 25 may be in place through the runner 15 into the ground16 to hold the improved sled against over-all horizontal movements as aresult of the force impact against the reactor dummy 13. However, therods 25 may be removed to allow some horizontal movement of the improvedsled to closely simulate a similar reaction that might be provided by adefensive player in response to the impact from the offensive blockingplayer. The operator can modify the extent of the horizontal movement inthis situation by selectively actuating the roller 29.

To actuate the roller 29, the operator merely depresses the lever 27clockwise (FIG. 1) about 28, so that the roller 29 will engage theground 16, intending to support the sled 10. By supporting or partiallysupporting the sled on one or more of the rollers 29, in this manner,the operator or operators can reduce the friction between the runnersand the ground 16 by virtue of the rollers 29. This in turn willlikewise modify the reaction provided by the sled 10 to the impactreceived through the reactor dummy 13.

The rods 25 may be used, or in lieu thereof, the runners 15 may be usedwith the selective operation of the rollers 29 and the operator oroperators of the sled 10 can vary the reaction of the sled from anoverall generally immovable object with the rods 25 in place, to asomewhat movable sled with the rods 25 removed, or to a somewhat movablesled by actuation of one or more of the rollers 29. Thus, the operatorcan simulate reactions which are similar to those provided by adefensive player being blocked in the manner in which the player wouldhave blocked the reactor dummy 13.

The operator can selectively manipulate the sled 10 to hold the sledhorizontally immovable, horizontally slidable on runners 15, orhorizontally movable on runners 15 and rollers 29. Simultaneously, theoperator can manipulate the reactor dummy 13 horizontally lateral.Therefore, the player engaging the dummy 13 must maintain a rapidrepeated corrected contact with the reactor dummy 13 regardless of theoperators manipulation of the reactor dummy 13, or the blocking effortsof the player will be avoided by the reactor dummy 13 and his blockingwill be unsuccessful.

The line of action of the reactor dummy 13 with respect to the movableframe 12 is along the concentric axes of the telescoped shaft 51 andtube 46 is generally acute with respect to the ground 16. Therefore, themost effective impact on the reactor dummy 13 will be that which isimparted thereto along the axes of the shaft 51 and the tube 46 orslightly upward and back. Accordingly, the player who is blocking thereactor dummy 13 must exert the main thrust of his force along a lineconcentric with the axes of the shaft 51 and the tube 46, which isslightly upward and forward with respect to him, to register thegreatest impact on the reactor dummy 13.

This will tend to teach the player to exert this type of force in anactual blocking situation, which will tend to cause the defensive playerto which the block is applied, to be raised from the ground and therebylose his footing in response to the block from the oifensive player.Thus, the improved sled 10 simulates the general reaction provided bythe vertical action by the defensive player to train the offensiveplayer accordingly.

Inasmuch as the pivotally connected runners 15, uprights 17 and braces20 are pivotally connected at 18 and 21, and the runners and braces areselectively adjustably connected at 24, the sled frame 11 can beadjusted in shape to alter the upright position of the uprights 17 byselecting appropriate positions 23 on the runners 15. Accordingly, theacute line that the concentric axes of the shaft 51 and tube 46 makewith the ground 16 can be adjusted in accordance with the preference ofthe operator of the improved sled 10, to provide the desired angularvertical reaction of the reactor dummy 13.

It is to be understood that the invention is not to be limited to thespecific constructions and arrangements shown and described, except onlyinsofar as the claims may be so limited, as it will be understood tothose skilled in the art that changes may be made without departing fromthe principles of the invention.

What is claimed is:

1. A football reactor training sled for reactive and illusiverelationship with a player comprising a sled frame adapted to beslidably supported on a horizontal surface, said frame having twohorizontally positioned parallel tracks, a movable frame, means mountingsaid movable frame on said tracks for free sliding movement at all timesrelative to said tracks for illusive horizontal movement therealong, areactor dummy slidably mounted on said movable frame for reciprocalmovement with respect to said movable frame, and resiliently yieldablemeans interconnecting said movable frame and said dummy reactor forurging said dummy away from said movable frame.

2. A football reactor training sled as defined in claim 1 wherein anoperator platform is provided on said frame, a lever is pivotallyconnected to said frame and has one end extending adjacent saidplatform, and a roller is rotatably mounted on the other end of saidlever whereby said roller may be selectively urged against the sledsupporting surface when pivoted by an operator on said platform forselectively supporting a portion of the weight of said sled on saidroller to allow said sled to move more easily on the support surface forthe purpose of selectively eluding the player and maintaining desiredselective player contact.

3. A football reactor training sled as defined in claim 1 wherein saidreactor dummy is movable toward said movable frame and against saidresilient yielding means along a line which is inclined upwardly towardsaid frame and is acute to the horizontal support surface.

4. A football reactor training sled as defined in claim 3 wherein saidmovable frame extends a substantial distance in a horizontal directionfrom said tracks with said dummy reactor extending a further substantialhorizontal distance to position the farthest surface of said dummyhorizontally remote from said tracks to tend to prevent contact withsaid tracks by a person eluded by said dummy.

5. A football reactor training sled as defined in claim 1 wherein saidtracks are tubes and said movable frame is secured thereon bycomplemental tubes having a minimum length greater than the horizontalwidth of said dummy and are telescoped over said track tubes and form apart of said movable frame to distribute the charging load reaction fromthe dummy over a large length of said tracks to permit said frame to befreely moved to selec tively elude a charging player independent of loadreaction on said frame.

'6. A football reactor training sled for reaction and illusiverelationship wtih a player comprising a sled frame adapted to beslidably supported on a horizontal surface, said frame having twohorizontally positioned parallel tracks, a freely movable frame meansmounting said movable frame on said tracks for free sliding movement atall times relative to said tracks for illusive horizontal movementtherealong, a reactor dummy slidably mounted on said frame forreciprocal movement with respect to said movable frame, said sled havingbase runners, upright braces respectively pivotally secured to saidrunners and having said tracks secured thereto, and diagonal bracesrespectively pivotally secured to said upright braces adjacent the topthereof and adjustably secured to said runners for adjustably retainingsaid upright braces to provide angular adjustment of said reactor dummy,and resiliently yieldable means interconnecting said freely 5 6 movableframe and said dummy reactor for urging said 3,062,547 11/1962 Kopp273-55 dummy away from said freely movable frame. 3,244,450 4/1966Boutin 248456 References Cited GEORGE I. MARLO, Primary Examiner UNITEDSTATES PATENTS 5 T. BROWN, Assistant Examiner 2,644,334 7/1953 Perry273-55 U.S. C1.X.R.

3,044,776 7/ 1962 Weidmaier et a1 27355 273-55

